A girl on the team
by zoevdv
Summary: Cassie is the fifth member of the notorious A Team. Read about her adventures with the guys and how everything start to change when she gets hurt on a mission. Murdock x OC I just wrote this for fun. I don't own anything from the A Team and I'm a massive fan of the show. I mean no disrespect.
1. Chapter 1

Sweat runs across his face. His feet pound the ground as he races towards his friends. The girl in his arms doesn't move, so he hugs her closer, trying to keep her safe.

 _"Hannibal!"_ he shouts at the top of his lungs. His commander looks up from his position, clearly startled by the panic in his voice.

Murdock skids to a halt in front of him, kicking up the dust near their feet. Hannibal looks down on the girl in his pilot's arms. The girl he considers a daughter. So small and so vulnerable she seems. Momentarily stunned, his brain can't come up with a plan for the life of him. Not when she looks so nearly dead. Hannibal looks up into Murdock's eyes and something clicks in his brain.

 _"Face, BA!"_ he shouts, running towards them. Murdock is left standing there, clutching Cassie to his chest.

 _"I'll keep you safe Cas. Just hold on for me now please. Come on girl, don't you dare leave me alone. Come on Cas, open your eyes. Please Cassie please. Please don't die Cassie. Please open your eyes Cas."_

Ltd Colonel Smith finds him still rooted to the spot, still talking to their Cassie.

 _"Come on Captain, let's get her into the van."_ he says.

Murdock looks up into the blue eyes of his leader.

 _"What's the plan commander?"_

Hannibal takes Cassie's shoulders and together with Murdock he hoists her into the van. She sits there slumped in the car seat, like a puppet who had his strings cut. Hannibal gets in the driver's seat and starts the van. It roars to life and suddenly leaps forward like it senses the urgency. A groan comes from the weak figure in the backseat. Her eyes open slightly.

 _"Murdock?"_

He had never taken his eyes of her, so he's with her in a heartbeat.

 _"Yes Cas?"_ he asks. _"I'm here girl."_

Another groan. _"Did he get you?"_ she manages to ask. Fighting to stay conscious, she looks in the pilot's eyes.

 _"No girl, he didn't."_ he says, cupping her face with his hands. _"Stay with me now. Hannibal will get you somewhere safe."_

She smiles at him. _"Good"_ she says, and lets unconsciousness take her away.

 _"Cas? Cassie! Colonel, we've got to get her to a doctor!"_

 _"We're not far from Bad Rock, Murdock. The three of us are gonna pay another visit to Maggie. How is our girl?"_

Murdock looks at his commander, and he clearly sees the worry in his eyes. Hannibal is driving as fast as he can, and at the same time trying to keep the van stable. Murdock suddenly realizes BA and Face aren't in the van with them.

 _"Where are BA and Face, Colonel?"_

Hannibal turns around to look him in the eyes. _"They stayed behind."_ He turns towards the road again. _"Somebody had to stay behind to make sure the bad guys are delivered to the police. They'll meet us tomorrow at Maggie's house at noon."_

Murdock turns back to the girl next to him. He keeps a steady pressure on her back, there where the bullets had hit. He starts rummaging around for the bandages in the truck. As the van keeps eating the kilometers, he patches her up as best as he can. It's too little too late, but it's all he can do right now. At least it seems to stop the bleeding a little.

 _"How is she Captain?"_

The voice seems to come from far away, so absorbed he is in his task. He looks up from Cassie to face his commander. The guilt creeps in his heart again. It chills him from the inside out. He doesn't want to tell him what happened. Everything can happen on the battlefield, but she's not a soldier. This shouldn't have happened to her.

Gathering his courage, Murdock starts to respond. _"She's weak Colonel. I've bandaged it as good as I could here, but the bullets are still in. I don't know how long she'll hang on."_

 _"What happened out there?"_ Hannibal asks. He focusses on driving for now, but he's determined to get to the bottom of this. His Captain remains silent. Hannibal looks around quickly again, and sees him looking at Cassie.

 _"Captain."_ Here his voice changes. It's clearly an order. _"What happened out there?"_

Murdock lifts his gaze to meet this leader. Now Hannibal can also see the guilt written on every line on his face.

 _"It's my fault, Hannibal."_ he starts, tears streaming from his face as he tells his tale. _"Me and Cassie took care of the guys at the back of the house, just like you said. They were laying on the ground, and we had them under control. My ammo was low, so Cassie gave me her gun. She was going to get you guys."_

As the memory overtakes him, Murdock starts to sob softly. _"I didn't see the guy's gun in time, but Cassie must have seen it as she walked past him. He pointed it at me, Colonel. But she jumped in between."_

Hannibal looks at the road again. He understands Murdock's guilt all too well. A few years prior Murdock had taken a bullet for him and the scar still reminds him every time. Luckily they would arrive at Maggie Sullivan's house soon. She'll fix this. She must fix this.

 _"Colonel, I'm sorry."_

Hannibal looks away from the road to face his Captain. He smiles at him. _"Don't beat yourself up Murdock. It wasn't you who shot her."_

Murdock won't have any of it. _"It was me who should've seen the guy's gun. I should've seen it Hannibal."_

Hannibal turns towards the road again. _"Do you blame me?"_

Murdock looks confused. He doesn't understand his commander's sudden change of subject.

 _"What do you mean, Hannibal?"_

 _"Do you blame me for the time when you took a bullet for me? I didn't see that scumbag's gun either. Do you blame me for missing that gun, Murdock?"_

Suddenly a light of understanding shines in Murdock's eyes. He looks at Cassie and at Hannibal.

 _"No Hannibal."_ he says. Then he smiles the smallest of smiles. _"I have never blamed you. We all miss things sometimes."_

"Well, it's a bit more difficult when you're the one who made the mistake." says Hannibal. He looks back with an encouraging smile. _"But nobody will blame you for this. Especially not her."_ He turns back to the road.

They sit in silence for a while. Cassie's situation has worsened. She looks as pale as a ghost and it's frightening how close she is to becoming one. Her breathing is labored and irregular. Suddenly the van lurches to the right. They are off the main road. Murdock looks at the landscape. They are almost there. Maggie Sullivan's house is only 10 more minutes away.

The van screeches to a halt. They've arrived at the house of Maggie Sullivan. Hannibal jumps out of the van and runs back to help Murdock. He cradles her into his arms once more and walks as fast as he dares towards the door. Hannibal is already pounding the wooden door with his two fists as loud as he can.

 _"Maggie, it's Hannibal! Please open up!"_ he shouts through the door.

The door opens up, and a lovely looking woman steps through. Looking at the limp form in Murdock's arms, she swallows any questions and ushers them in.

 _"Put her in the operating room Murdock."_

Murdock knows this house very well. This is where he gave BA a blood transfusion, so he knows his way towards the right room. He gently puts Cassie on the bed, and retreats a little. Maggie enters with Hannibal. He has clearly explained everything very quickly, so there's nothing left to do but wait. Hannibal gently takes the pilot by the shoulders and drags him outside the room.

 _"We've got to let her do her thing Murdock."_ he whispers softly. _"Why don't you go and change out of these clothes first."_

Murdock looks up at Hannibal. He's confused.

 _"We can't let that blood get everywhere on Maggie's nice couch, now can we?"_ Hannibal explains. _"We'll get cleaned up, and then we are going to wait. Just you and me, we're going to wait together."_

Hannibal worries for his pilot. He doesn't look good at all. They've all been wounded at some point, but he has never seen Murdock react like this. Maybe it's the fact that it's Cassie this time. Cassie isn't like them. She isn't a soldier, she didn't go through the same ordeals as the team and she is a girl. A young girl. That always hurts more. In the short period they had known her, she had become a person they could all depend on.

The first time they met her, she had stolen Hannibal's jacket from his chair. How is that for the start of a relation? She was just a small time pickpocket from the streets of New York, and she saw the team have a quiet drink in a bar. Convinced there was some money in it, she had nicked Hannibal's jacket right from under their noses. Unfortunately for her it had been tagged by some bad guys. She had accidentally saved the A Team from a nasty trap. As she ran of with the GPS tag, the bad guys found her. The A Team had come just in time to save her.

After that she had tried her best to become useful to them. She became an informant for them, helped them evade Decker by listening to police radios and went out to get food for them when they couldn't get out of hiding. She was kind, funny and loyal. They all loved her energy and spunk. She could tell stories like no other and they all loved to have her around.

Hannibal never had a daughter but he started to love that girl like a daughter. The first time she hugged him was when they rescued her from the bad guys. Even then he felt he needed to protect her, keep her safe. He didn't want to take her out on missions, but she didn't listen. Often she snuck out against his orders to come and help the team. She had saved his life on one such occasion. She's been an active member of the team ever since. She used to sleep on the street, so another reason for keeping her on was looking after her. It's not often people hire you because you're a great pickpocket. This way she could look after herself and get off the streets.

It had worked out for everybody. Except for this time. This was the time Hannibal wished with all his might he would've left her at home. He put on his jacket and checked up on Murdock.

The pilot looked odd without his leather vest. He had put his clothes in a plastic bag and holds it out for his commander. _"Thanks Murdock."_ Hannibal says and he puts his own clothes in the bag.

 _"Let's go inside, shall we?"_


	2. Chapter 2

Hannibal and Murdock don't speak a word as they hold their wake. It seems to last an eternity, but at last Maggie comes out of the room. The two men quickly get up, anxious to hear the news.

 _"She's stable now guys. She is going to make it."_ Maggie explains. _"She has 2 bullet wounds, one in her lower back and one which fractured her left shoulder. She has a lot of healing to do. Care to help me move her to the spare bedroom?_

Murdock's smile nearly splits his face in two. He looks at Hannibal, eyes bloodshot from crying but smiling anyway. _"She's going to make it."_

Hannibal put his hand on the Captain's shoulder. _"She'll be fine Murdock."_ He shoots a grateful look at Maggie.

Maggie nods. _"She's asleep. I gave her some strong sedatives, so she shouldn't wake up when you move her."_

Hannibal turns to Murdock again. _"Get her to the bedroom and be there when she wakes up. That's an order Captain."_ He smiles when he says it though and Murdock understands. He leaves quickly to continue his wake.

Maggie turns to Hannibal. _"Did you have to be so blunt about it?"_ she asks him.

 _"I know him. He would've sat there for the entire time anyway. This way he can do it without feeling guilty he lets the team down. He's under orders after all."_ explains Hannibal. He winks at Maggie. _"I'm a lot more clever than you give me credit for you know."_

Maggie pokes him in the ribs. _"Oh shut it Smith!"_

They look up as Murdock exits the surgery with a limp Cassie in his arms. She doesn't look quite so pale anymore. Murdock enters the bedroom, as per orders.

Grinning, Hannibal puts his arm around Maggie. _"Let's give him a moment alone with her."_ He leads Maggie to the couch. Her eyes look confused, she doesn't know what to make of that last comment.

 _"So Smith, where are Peck and Baracus?"_

-

In the bedroom, Murdock puts Cassie down gently. She doesn't wake up at all. Her face looks totally relaxed, and he pushes a lock of her hair out of her face. Even like this she does look beautiful. She's always been beautiful, Murdock just hadn't noticed before. She always was buddy, a friend. But when he saw her fall after the gun went off, he thought he had lost her.

He sits like this for a while, lost in thought. He holds her hand between his as he sits on the edge of the bed. Leaving her behind when they go on missions isn't an option, he knows this in his heart. But he considers the possibility of her dying out there. If she died, she'd be gone. Gone from his life. And he doesn't know if he can live like that. He realizes he loves the team with all his heart. They are his best friends. If they died he would be distraught and would grieve terribly. He would, however, be able to move on. If she died, this girl who had been accepted by the team so easily, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Murdock realizes this with a shock. If she dies, he'll be lost.

The door opens and Hannibal enters. He looks at his pilot sitting there, holding Cassie's hand, as if he hadn't expected anything else. He smiles at him. Murdock smiles back. Hannibal kneels next to the bed and softly caresses Cassie's hair. _"How did she get us to care about her so much Murdock?"_ he whispers.

Murdock looks at his commander and smiles. _"She's part of the team Colonel. We just didn't know it back then."_

Hannibal shakes his head. _"No it's more than that. I've never had a daughter before, but I feel like a father now."_

Murdock looks from Cassie to Hannibal. He's never heard him say anything like that before. Hannibal doesn't let people in easily.

Murdock takes a big breath. _"I know what you mean Colonel. She just snuck in, I suppose."_

Hannibal smiles at his pilot. _"Yeah, she just snuck in."_ He leans over and gives the girl a kiss on her forehead. _"Get better Cassie."_ He turns to Murdock again. _"I'll get the van out of sight and set up a perimeter. I'll be outside with Maggie. Let me know when something changes, ok?"_

 _"Yes Hannibal."_ Murdock answers. Normally he would salute or something like that. Not today. Today he simply turns away from his leader and back to the girl in the bed.

The door closes. He doesn't even flinch.

He just sits there waiting. At one point Maggie brings him something to eat. He eats it almost without tasting. It's gone in minutes, just another plate for the washing up. Time seems to slow down there in the bedroom. At one point Murdock relocates to a chair, never letting go of Cassie's hand. He has just made himself comfortable, when her fingers twitch slightly. Murdock is immediately on high alert. Her situation doesn't appear to have worsened. It was only a little twitch. He gets up to call Hannibal, but now she squeezes his hand. It's a light squeeze, but it's definitely a squeeze. The pressure on his fingers almost makes him jump out of his skin with joy.

 _"Cassie, are you awake?"_

He studies her face intently and almost crushes her fingers as her eyes open.

 _"Hey silly."_ she whispers.

 _"Hannibal!"_ he shouts loudly. _"Hannibal she's awake!"_

He hears a stumble from outside the door as Hannibal bursts in the room. Immediately he locks eyes with the girl he thinks of as his daughter and he smiles broadly. He quickly comes closer.

 _"You scared us there girl. We didn't know if you were gonna make it."_

He sits down as well and caresses her cheek. Cassie smiles at him.

 _"It takes more than this to get rid of me old man."_

He smiles broadly. _"You've been shot twice."_ he starts explaining. _"Your shoulder blade is fractured, so you'll have trouble moving your arm. You're going to lay low for while."_

 _"What happened with the mission?"_ she asks. She looks at Murdock. _"What happened after, you know? After he shot me?"_

Hannibal looks at his pilot curiously. He hadn't mentioned that part at all.

 _"I killed him, Cas."_ Murdock explains grimly. _"Shot him. He's dead. The others were all on the floor, so I told Martin to keep them under control until the cops came and brought you to Hannibal."_ He smiles at her. _"Now you've got to sleep Cas. Go to sleep."_

Cassie looks at him and smiles. Hannibal looks at the girl and his pilot together and smiles to himself. He isn't needed anymore. _"Come on Murdock. Let's leave her be. She needs to rest."_ Before they exit the room, they can hear a soft snoring from the bed in the corner. Cassie was already asleep.

 _"Hannibal, I really feel like I should be with her."_ Murdock starts to protest. He looks pleadingly at Hannibal, but he won't budge.

 _"Look outside Captain."_ he says.

Murdock looks and sees it's dark outside.

 _"It's time for us to get some sleep as well. You're not helping her if you exhaust yourself."_

Murdock sees the logic in this and allows his commander to drag him to the couch.

-

Later that night Hannibal suddenly wakes up because he heard a noise. He gets up to investigate. When he gets to the living room, he sees that Murdock's couch is empty. He sighs, and goes to check up on Cassie. He finds his pilot there, fast asleep by the foot of the bed. He smiles and closes the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Hannibal stands on guard as a beaten down car arrives. It's BA and Face, looking very worried.

 _"Couldn't scam a better car Face? That piece of junk nearly falls apart just by looking at it."_ Hannibal quips, as the car stops and the door opens.

 _"Faceman was in a hurry Hannibal."_ BA grunts as he exits the vehicle. _"Escaping the police wasn't easy this time. Now where is she?"_

Hannibal leads the two men to Maggie's house. _"She was shot twice and she lost a lot of blood. She's in bed right now and she's awake. You can go and see her."_

He goes to the guest room, and he hears two _"Hi there Maggie"_ s behind him from Face and BA. He opens the door and says _"Cassie, the guys wanna see you."_ The smile on her face tells the whole story. She's one of them now.

Face and BA almost push Hannibal out of the way. Murdock quickly takes a step back to let the guys come closer. BA and Face stand on either side of the bed, looking down on Cassie.

 _"Hi guys."_ she says.

 _"Hey girl I am so happy to see you!"_ BA starts. He wears his usual gold, but nothing is more precious than the massive grin on his face. _"We were so worried about you!"_

Cassie lifts one arm as an invitation and BA carefully gives her a big hug. He puts her down gently.

 _"I'm fine guys. Could be a whole lot worse. I could be dead, but I'm not."_

Face now came a little closer. _"Don't you die on me kid."_ Then he smiled and kissed her hand. _"You've no idea how worried we were."_  
Maggie entered the room. _"This is a little much for the patient guys. I want you all out now, so I can change her bandages."_

They all left the room and sat down in the living room.

 _"Hannibal, it was really difficult to lose the police this time. No van, no telephone, no nothing."_ Face starts. _"It felt they knew who we were, because they seemed too well prepared."_

Hannibal looks worried. _"You think Decker talked to them?"_

 _"Gotta be Decker man."_ BA chimes in. _"I could've sworn I heard some military sirens right after we left."_

 _"That's bad. We can't move Cassie, she needs to rest. Maggie wants to keep her here for a while."_

Hannibal turns from his team with a thinking frown on his face. Face and BA look around for Murdock. He's standing before the door, hopping from leg to leg. Every muscle in his body looks tense. Face and BA look at each other. It's one of those looks with which you can fill an entire book. It speaks of history and knowing each other really, really well.

 _"Fool hasn't talked to Billy or been weird once."_ BA tells Face. _"Something's wrong."_

 _"Ya think big guy?"_

Hannibal turns on his heels and rejoins the group.

 _"Hannibal, what's up with Murdock?"_ Face asks him. _"He isn't acting like himself at all."_

Their leader looks at both of his men intently. _"It's Cassie. She took the bullets to protect Murdock."_

Face gasps audibly and BA just grunts in surprise. They both look back at their pilot.

 _"That doesn't explain him though Colonel. He looks way to anxious for that."_ says Face. _"It's not like it was his fault."_

 _"They had everyone under control."_ Hannibal sighs. _"Murdock missed that one guy still had a gun. He's beating himself up for that."_

 _"Poor guy!"_ exclaims Face _"He didn't shoot her!"_

BA just goes to the pilot and puts 2 hands on his shoulders. Murdock jumps slightly. He hadn't heard BA approach.

 _"BA."_

 _"He bud, come with us for a second."_ He coaches Murdock away from the door. The team looks him in the eyes. _"It ain't your fault buddy. He shot and she jumped."_

Murdock drops his gaze. _"I should've caught the gun BA."_

 _"You can find a should've on every cemetery Captain."_ Hannibal joins in. _"Thanks to you, we won't find Cassie there as well. You saved her, you know."_

Murdock seems to take this to heart. A small smile creeps on his lips. Satisfied his work is done, Hannibal changes the subject.

 _"Now, we need to move out guys."_ 3 pairs of eyes look up in surprise. _"Without Cassie."_

They all start to protest at the same time. In the cacophony of sounds, Maggie comes through. _"Hey, what's this?!"_

She approaches with both hands on her hips. She looks rather furious to say the least. "What is the matter with you boys. If she hears you bicker like that, you think that's helping keeping her calm?"

Everyone looks at Hannibal, looking for a plan or an explanation.

 _"We gotta move guys."_ he repeats. _"But we're leaving Cassie here. If Decker is close, we're sitting ducks here. And Murdock and Cassie will be compromised."_

Silence follows that remark. Everyone understands why he's saying this, but nobody thought it would be this soon. Murdock looks up determined.

 _"I'm not leaving her Colonel."_

Face's mouth drops open slightly. He's never heard Murdock refuse an order before.

 _"Explain yourself Captain."_ Hannibal stands just a little straighter, as if to remind Murdock who's in charge. To his credit, Murdock doesn't look away or back down.

 _"I'm staying with her Colonel. You guys go and do what you gotta do. I'm staying here to take care of Cassie. And when she's better I'll bring her home and go back to the VA."_

Face and BA feel as if it's something neither of them have any say in. So wisely, they just take a step back and keep silent. Hannibal nods at Murdock.

 _"If Maggie agrees,"_ he says, and looks at Maggie, _"you can stay behind Murdock."_

Maggie approaches the boys. _"I'm fine with him staying here Smith."_ And turning to Murdock, she goes _"Stay as long as you like."_

Murdock smiles broadly, and salutes his commander. Hannibal looks at Face and BA. _"We better go and say goodbye."_


	4. Chapter 4

Not long after the van drove of screeching, Cassie slowly makes her way to the living room. Her back hurts a lot and her shoulder is in a strong cast. It feels more like a straightjacket than anything, not that she'd know how that feels. She does know that if she has to sit one more minute in that damn bed, she'll explode.

She is a street rat, the only job she has ever had is being a thief. With that comes a penchant for never sitting still. Being confined to a single room is her worst nightmare. The one thing she fears is confinement or prison and yet her career sometimes seems to only have one conclusion. In her worst nightmares she sees herself sitting behind bars and slowly going insane. She's always alone in those dreams.

She looks at the man sitting next to her on the couch. Maybe that's why he wouldn't leave her alone, she thinks, as Murdock starts to peel a tangerine. Maybe he somehow knew. He's a lot smarter than people give him credit for. Must be his weird behavior that fools everybody.

Cassie sighs. It's never easy, living your life. Especially with people like these guys as your best friends.

Murdock sits there, hand extended. He smiles at her. _"Piece of fruit?"_

-

Screeching wheels outside. Maggie and Murdock quickly helping her into her sickbed. A stabbing pain in her shoulder when she's lowered a little to quickly and hits the bedframe. A sharp intake of breath to conceal the hurt, but you don't fool your own doctor or a man like Murdock. They know, she can see it in their faces. They look around a little panicked.

 _"Murdock, get out."_ Maggie whispers. She looks panicked, but Cassie can't really tell. Everything starts to get a little fuzzy. Too much movement too quickly. It's too much for her recently damaged body and she lets go.

Somebody pounds the front door. _"Miss, let us in. United States Army!"_ Murdock looks around frantically and jumps through the window. He lands like a cat on all fours. Luckily they are on the ground floor. The grass tickles his nose as he looks around. In a less serious situation, he'd loudly sneeze. Today isn't one of those days though. He spots the two cars by the front door. He can even see the green uniforms, but the soldiers don't see him. They are all focussed on the front door but not for long.

He stays as low to the ground as possible and creeps through the grass on his belly. His shirt gets dirty, but he doesn't care. He saw a cat do this once. It was hunting something, a mouse maybe. He always thought he'd be the mouse in that situation, but smiling to himself he realizes he is the cat. A soft miauw escapes his lips as he crawls to the back of the house. There, safe and in cover, he quickly brings up his claw to wash his face.

When he does that he freezes for a second. He isn't a cat. He knows this. His hand is still near his face, fingers contorted like a claw. He studies his fingers for a second. Then he snaps out of it. This is not the time. Cassie is inside. There's nothing he can do for her at this point, other than not getting caught. They'll never connect her to the A Team if they don't find him here. So as difficult as it is for him, Murdock shakes his head firmly and focusses on the present. He can't get lost in memories of cats and mice.

He's at the back of the house. They will certainly check it, so if he stays here long, he'll get spotted. What to do? His brain comes up with 10 different answers to this problem, none any good. He doesn't wish Hannibal was here. He knows he is perfectly capable of thinking his way out of this. Just as long as he doesn't purr or something like that. He can feel a purr coming up. Sometimes it's just easier to pretend to be a cat than to try and escape army guys.

Lightbulb moment! Murdock smiles to himself and starts crawling towards the tree. _"Miauw, miauw"_ he purrs.

Colonel Decker stomps out of the sick room. The girl in the cod isn't of any interest to him. The girl on the A Team looks nothing like this one and she's a reporter. He believes the story Maggie told him about her being a tourist passing through. He's convinced that a member is hurt and this is the nearest doctor available. So if one person on Smith's team is injured, he'd bring that person here. Decker had silently hoped it was Hannibal Smith himself. Those idiotic plans of his always manage to work and he always escapes because of them.

 _"You two, search the area. Look for tire tracks made by a van. Corporal, you search the house again. I'm outside."_

His men salute and move out. He has trained them well. The doctor just glares at him. It's clear she doesn't appreciate having them around. Now is that because she's a friend of the A Team or because they are an inconvenience? Given that there is a wounded patient in the house, Decker suspects the latter.

He nods at the doctor apologetically and goes out. He walks slowly towards the back of the house. He takes in his surroundings. Smith was always the clever one with the gut feeling. He could sometimes grasp a situation just by coming to the right conclusions. Decker isn't wired that way. He looks at things methodically. It might take him a little longer to come to a conclusion, but it will be the right one. Right now he's looking at some flattened grass underneath an open window to the side of the house. He squats down to take a better look at it. He loosens his gun in his holster, just to be able to grab it quickly.

The grass is certainly flattened, but why. It looks like a cat could have done it. Or a raccoon perhaps. Only there are no trashcans nearby. There seems to be a trail of slightly flattened grass leading to the back of the house. Very slowly, Decker follows the trail. He's careful not to step on it though. Best not to tamper with evidence, when it's not necessary of course. Decker arrives at the back of the house. Unfortunately, there's nothing there. Just a tree in a backyard. The back of the house is paved with lovely black stones. There is a lounge chair and a small table. His trail has hit a dead end. No more flat grass, nothing.

Just to be sure, he takes out his gun and circles the tree. Nobody is here. He hears some branches cracking up above him and a leaf falls down.

He smiles to himself and says. _"Get out of... Shit!"_

He jumps sideways with a fright when a fat ginger tom jumps down, missing him by inches. He looks at the animal whilst pointing his gun at it. The cat isn't impressed with the gun. The cat simply approaches him, starts purring and rubbing his back to the shocked Colonel's boots.

Decker lowers his weapon with a sigh. _"Blast."_ he says. He bends down to pet the cat and walks towards the other side of the house. You should always do a full perimeter check, even though you were just chasing a cat.

High up in the tree, Murdock smiles to himself. _"Miauw miauw."_ he purrs, as he washes his face with his claw.

-

Maggie watches the Army guys drive off. Colonel Decker sure was disappointed not to find the guys here. She was very worried that they'd find Murdock, but apparently the good pilot had managed to hide. Her first priority is her patient, so she walks agitated to the second bedroom.

Hopefully that'll be all the excitement there was going to be. Cassie needs rest and a stress-free environment. Maggie is glad the guys were gone. They are not what you'd call stress-free. She enters the room and smiles happily. Nothing has changed. Cassie is still asleep. She takes away the bedspread and sees that the bandage still holds. No new blood, no new nothing. Everything is as it should be. She's healing just fine. Maggie starts by tucking her in. Best to let her sleep for now.

 _"How's she doin' doc?"_

Murdock's southern drawl comes from behind her. She turns to find him standing there as if nothing special had just happened. Just a very dangerous game of hide and seek, nothing special. Maggie realizes it's nothing he hasn't done before. Nothing out of the ordinary for Howlin' Mad Murdock.

 _"She's fine Murdock. Just asleep."_ She turns to usher him out of the room. _"Let's leave her sleep now."_

Murdock shakes his head firmly. _"I'll stay here and be real quiet doc."_ Maggie opens her mouth to protest but Murdock stops her. _"If she doesn't see me, she might think Decker found me. If she doesn't see me, she might panic. I'm staying."_

Maggie smiles at the poor man. If only all men were that considerate, she thought. She nods and turns away to leave the room. Just before she exits, she stops for a moment. She turns around and looks at the man sitting next to the bed.

 _"Just how did you not get caught, Murdock? I mean, where did you go?"_

Murdock smiles at her, and brings up a hand contorted like a claw. _"I had help from my feline friend Felix. Miauw!"_ he says, rubbing his face just like a cat.

Maggie smiles and leaves the room. Just another mystery surrounding the team, she guessed. As she closes the door, she hears a soft purring behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

Hannibal sits by the phone, waiting impatiently. He's tapping his foot, trying to get a rhythm going but failing miserably. He knows he should study the script in front of him but he just can't be bothered today. Today is the day Murdock and Cassie leave Maggie's house. He knows Murdock will get Cassie home safely, but he still needs the confirmation. It must be the father in him, he thinks. The past few weeks have been driving him insane. He just wanted Cassie to be nearby so he could look after her.

It was driving him nuts and he thinks BA and Face noticed. The team is a little quieter now. There have been no missions so far, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because that means they didn't have to pull them off 2 members short. A curse because everybody could sure use the money. Hannibal stared at his phone, foot still tapping.

Ttrrrrring. Ttrrrrring. Ttrrrr... _"Aquamaniac speaking."_

 _"Hi old man."_

Hannibal smiles at his telephone. He's silent for a moment. It's good to hear that voice.

 _"I'm happy to hear you as well, John."_ When they were alone, she always called him John. Not many people did that. Not many people were allowed to do that.

 _"I didn't say anything yet, now did I?"_ he quipped back.

 _"Yeah you did."_

Another silence.

Hannibal breathes deeply and moves on. _"I'm glad you made it home. How's the shoulder?"_

 _"Still a bit stiff and sore but I'm out of that straightjacket Maggie put me in."_

 _"Ha!"_ Hannibal laughs at her tone. It's exactly what he would've said. _"And Murdock?"_ he asks.

 _"He just left. He had a cup of coffee here and went straight to the VA. It's been a long time for him to be without treatment."_

This gave Hannibal pause. Usually Murdock isn't out of VA for long. Usually their missions only last a few days. He didn't realize his pilot might have had trouble in the past few weeks.

 _"How was he?"_ he asks.

 _"He was fine. I think he kept himself together for me. Billy started to appear more towards the end. He was really happy to go back this morning, yet he insisted he'd make me a cup of coffee before he left."_

Hannibal smiles. _"Always the gentleman."_

A chuckle comes from the other end of the line. _"Yeah, something like that."_

From outside he hears the assistant director yell for him through the trailer door. _"I gotta go love. I'll let the guys know later today. Stay at your place for now, we'll meet next week on Tuesday at 900 hours in the usual place. Rest for now. That's an order."_

Now he hears a snigger, he's sure of it. _"Aye aye Colonel. See you next week John."_

 _"Dismissed."_ he says as he hangs up the phone. The assistant director is banging on his door, yelling something about his schedule. Hannibal opens the front door to face this exasperated man, but not even the rant about stars and tardiness can wipe the smile from his face.

 _"Let's go kid."_ he tells the guy when he takes a breath in between tirades. _"We don't wanna be late now do we?"_


	6. Chapter 6

The following Tuesday a lovely red and white corvette arrives at a warehouse. A handsome man steps out of the vehicle. He casually adjusts the tie of his suit, clicks his shiny heels together and moves with a purpose towards the metal staircase on the side of the building. He starts to move upwards to the door on the first floor. It's nearly 9 'o clock, and he's nearly late.

He opens the door and enters the building. It's still dark inside, as if nobody was there. He knows better. There is one office in a corner where light spills from the crack underneath the door. He knows his way blindfolded, so he confidently strides towards the office. The offices around him are pitch black, made even more scary because of the light at the end of the hall. Without light, darkness is fine. Once you spot a source of light, darkness becomes just a little more threatening. Face quickly makes his way, careful not to get spooked by his imagination.

The door opens and there he finds his friends. All of them this time. His eyes are drawn to the slim figure of their little protégé, Cassie. She's leaning against Murdock and they are clearly deep in conversation right now. Hannibal is looking at him with those sparkling eyes of his. That's never a good sign, he knows. When Hannibal looks like that, he's on the Jazz, as the team calls it. It usually means trouble will follow, first a little for them and then a whole lot for the people who annoy Hannibal. Face unconsciously pads his inside pocket, checking on the extra cigar he brought for Hannibal. It's never good for him to run out in the middle of a plan.

 _"Hiya Hannibal."_ he greets his leader. _"Since when do we plan missions a week in advance?"_

Without pause he just continues to greet the other members of the team. _"Hiya BA. How's your mother doing this week? Feeling any better?"_

BA smiles at Face, glad to see he'd remembered his old mum. _"She's feeling fine Face. She says thank you for the flowers."_

Face then turns to Murdock and Cassie. Murdock suddenly stops their conversation, jumps up, yells _"Facemaaan!"_ and hugs him with the force of a small brown bear. Nearly crushed to death, Face looks at Cassie as if to ask _what happened please save me I can't breathe._ Cassie just looks at the two of them with a smirk on her face, not at all sad Murdock momentarily ignores her for Face.

 _"Murdock, release..."_ he manages to croak.

Murdock then releases him, looking perplexed as to why his friend looks so crumpled. Face then turns to Cassie and gives her a hug.

 _"Glad to have you back kid. It was getting boring without you!"_ As he releases her, he can see she's smiling at him. It's obvious she missed the team as well.

 _"Alright kids!"_ Hannibal interjects, clapping his hands together. _"Here's the situation."_

He tells them about their next client, an old oil baron. He is very rich and has no more way of spending his money, other than settling some scores. He told Mr Lee that earlier this month his son stole some of his documents. When the old man dies, the son will get a big portion of his company.

The oil baron, Miles Connelly, wants the team to secure those documents for him. He had hired a PI, who has indeed confirmed that the theft had taken place.

 _"So that's why I asked you guys to come here a week in advance Face."_ Hannibal explains, turning to his Lieutenant. _"I knew Mr Connelly would call me today to give me the report of the PI. If the PI confirmed that the documents were stolen, we would take the case. And I had a hunch, so here we are. I received the document an hour ago."_

Hannibal smiles at his team. _"Fast service, right guys?"_

Face raises his hands. _"Hold on there Hannibal. Are we all going?"_ And he looks pointedly at Cassie.

 _"Yeah Faceman, we're all going."_ she responds. _"I'm feeling fine. I'll just do less of the heavy lifting this time."_

Hannibal senses Face's response, so he quickly shuts him down. _"We could very well use a good thief here, Face. I haven't worked it all out yet, but I intend on taking Cassie along for an important part of the mission."_

 _"Very well Hannibal."_ Face sighs. _"What's the plan, Hannibal?"_

Hannibal smiles and starts explaining.

-

The team awaits impatiently as Cassie changes into her outfit. They need to attend a ball tonight, with Cassie at her thieving-best. For the boys it isn't a difficult change. Face and Murdock wear a tux and BA and Hannibal wear a server's getup. They all look dashing, although BA chose to wear his feathers as well. Nobody will tell him to take them off.

Face scammed Cassie's dress as well, but he didn't show it to the rest of the team. It'll be a surprise, he had said. That's why they are all waiting in the warehouse, staring at their feet, or in Hannibal's case, reading a book. The curtain they hung up to give Cassie some privacy slightly moves.

 _"Ok I'm ready guys."_ Cassie says from behind the curtain. _"I'm coming out."_

The red fabric from the curtain suddenly parts. Cassie exits, wearing a gorgeous but simple white dress. It hugs her curves at all the right places and shows off her excellent figure. Her hair isn't in the usual ponytail either, she had done something with it this time. Her gentle brown curls seem to caress her face as she moves. Murdock's mouth quite literally falls open as he stares at her. She looks like a princess, that's all that goes on in his head right now.

Face smiles at her. He's very proud of how she looks, not in the least because he picked out the dress. A hand slaps him on the shoulder. _"Well done Lieutenant, very well done."_

Hannibal then opens his arms wide open and gives Cassie a big hug. _"You look lovely my dear."_

 _"Ok team, let's go."_ Hannibal says, spurring them into action.

Murdock snaps out of his light daze, closes his mouth, and holds out his hand. _"Shall I accompany you to your vehicle milady?"_ Cassie smiles shyly at him and takes his hand. The team then watches the two walk towards Face's Corvette.

 _"I was just about to do that Colonel."_ Face says with a smile on his face.

BA laughs loudly. _"Yeah man, crazy fool beat you to it."_

Grinning they follow Murdock and Cassie to the car. They arrive just in time to see him open the door for her.

Face gets into his car next to Cassie and the team gets in the van. The two cars leave together.

-

A little while later, a shiny corvette arrives at an upscale party in the middle of town. Face throws his keys to the valet and goes _"Be gentle with her yeah?"_

He runs to the other door and opens it for Cassie. _"Shall we, my dear?"_

She takes his hand and they enter the party. It's a room filled to the brim with wealthy people. You can tell, it's in the way they walk and talk and glide across the dance floor. The host is mister Miles Connelly and he's rather old fashioned. If you want to dance at one of his parties, you'll have to be able to do some ballroom dancing. It's all very dignified. Face leads Cassie to the bar.

 _"I'll have a martini and the lady will have..."_ He looks at Cassie intendedly. _"...an aged captain Morgan on the rocks please."_

The barman smiles at them and goes to work. The two then turn to face the dance floor. _"You see him kid?"_

 _"Right corner, darling. He's standing at that little table under the chandelier."_

Cassie slightly nods her head in the right direction, and Face follows her gaze. She's right, the oil baron's son stands there looking unamused. He doesn't look as if he wants to be there at all, as the beautiful woman on his arm looks like she'll never get tired of talking.

 _"Hannibal, target located."_ He whispers into his cufflink. He then turns to the barman and takes the 2 drinks from him. _"Cheers my good man. It looks delicious. Let's go dear."_

He hands Cassie her drink and they go out into the open. Cassie can feel the butterflies in her stomach. This part of the mission all depends on her, so it's quite a special moment. The tension starts building, so she takes a sip. Face notices.

 _"Don't worry kid. We've got you."_

She looks at him, feeling slightly unsure. He smiles at her and points with his martini to one of the waiters. _"Take a good look at him kid."_

She studied the man in the tailcoat standing a little further, offering a couple a drink. _"It's Hannibal!"_ she realizes with a surprise.

Peck laughs next to her. _"And Murdock is up there, watching your every move."_ He squeezes her shoulder reassuringly. _"If something goes wring, he'll notice it immediately."_

Cassie downs her drink in one go. The ice clanks against the glass as she hands it to her friend. _"I'm going in."_

He watches her go with a smile on his lips. _"Copy that Murdock?"_

 _"I see her and I copy."_ comes from his earpiece. Murdock will keep an eye on Cassie.

-

As she darts between the chatting and slightly drunk people, she approaches her target. The young man seems to have a thundercloud above his head. He's in a foul mood, absolutely not enjoying the party. Cassie observes him for a moment. She can only conclude it's his partner for the night. Their seems to be no feelings involved there. Cassie suspects he only took her along because of her looks, something that he's regretting right now. That gives her an opportunity.

In a bold move, she approaches him head on, giving him plenty of time to notice her. She stands in front of him with a half smile on her lips, making a point to completely ignore the girl. She just looks at the young man and look is all she has to do. In a territorial gesture, the girl opposite of her takes the guy's arm. He shakes her arm off and turns to Cassie.

 _"And who might you be?"_ he asks.

 _"Someone who wants to dance. It's a party, is it not?"_ she replies. She extends her hand to him. She can almost feel the team hold their collective breath in anticipation. If she has overplayed her hand now, it will be difficult to repair the damage.

Call it a woman's intuition, but the son smiles at her and takes her hand. _"Why don't you go and powder your nose, Janice?"_

They head onto the dance floor together, and the unfortunate Janice slinks away to the bathroom.

 _"Now before we dance, won't you tell me your name miss?"_ asks the son. He looks into Cassie's eyes and takes her by the hand. They await the end of this dance.

 _"That would spoil the fun sir."_ she says, smiling coyly at him. A new dance starts and off they go. They slowly twirl alongside the other couples on the dance floor.

She notices he's rather good at it. _"I must say sir, I'm rather impressed. You haven't stepped on my toes once."_

He smiles and twirls her around unexpectedly. Her skirt flies up in in a maelstrom of white fabric. He catches her in time, holding her just a little longer than necessary. _"I have had lessons ever since I was 8 years old."_ he tells her smiling.

Cassie smiles deviously at him. _"Did you learn how to dance like this as well?"_ she asks, as she turns her back to him and he they sway in small circles. They break apart for a second for a twirl and she rejoins him. Their bodies touch, it's all very sensual. Cassie has an other motive off course. She is just getting him comfortable.

As he's thoroughly distracted by her neck being frustratingly close, she runs her fingers up and down his sides. She knows he always carries the key to his safe at his person and it's her job tonight to find it. Right side, negative. She turns around so she's facing him. As she does that her hands ever so lightly glide over his inside pocket. The key's in there, she's certain of it. Now all she has to do is get it out. Easy peasy.

 _"I think I've got a good idea sir. Would you mind waiting here for a second? You'll want to take your jacket off for this one."_

He looks a little confused. _"Jacket? Why my jacket?"_ he asks her.

She bends forward to whisper in his ear. _"You don't want to ruin that lovely jacket, now do you? Take it off dear, and let's dance for real."_ Her voice was low and seductive and her breath against his skin made him shiver.

 _"This jacket is gone."_ He takes a step back and kisses her hand. _"I'll be right back."_

Cassie walks to the band. _"Face, the key is in his front pocket. I'll keep him busy for now, go and get it."_ she whispers under her breath.

On the radio, Face responds. _"Copy. On my way."_

Cassie starts talking to the conductor of the little band. He's a little confused, but eventually he nods his head.

She rejoins her date on the dace floor. He looks a little confused, but very keen to find out what she has in store for him. After a few seconds of waiting, the music starts. Cassie starts to swing dance, and her partner actually manages to stay with her. Their feet glide across the dance floor with ease, as everyone looks on, clapping along with the rhythm.

Murdock stands on one of the balconies. He watches the pair dance below him, but it brings him no joy. He didn't know watching two people dance could make him feel so bad. He almost wished the guy tried to do something funny, just so he could come in and rescue Cassie. These feelings make him feel ashamed on top of everything else. Cassie's just playing a part after all. She's just doing what Hannibal told her, getting the keys and distracting him whilst the team takes a look in his safe. Murdock sighs. Why do women have to make everything more complicated, he wonders. He keeps a firm lookout and he wishes the night was over already.

-

Hannibal, Face and BA have just finished making copies of everything in the safe. Hannibal gives the keys back to Face.

 _"Quickly now, get them back before he knows they were gone. We'll clean up the room."_

Face nods and quickly walks back to the party. He notices the song is coming an end. As the last note sounds across the dance floor, the guy holds Cassie until she's hanging seductively in his arms. Peck meets her eyes across a room filled with people and she nods slightly. The guys puts her back on her own two feet and whispers something in her ear.

Face can hear her response through the radio.

 _"Could you get me a drink please? I'm parched."_

The guy kisses her hand and heads to the bar. Face smiles to himself. The kid is a natural at this. He makes his way to the son's table, where he sneaks the keys back right where he found them. He then makes his way to the bar for a refill. You never say no to an open bar.

He's interested in what happens now, because Hannibal was rather vague. He stands at the bar, leaning on one elbow, sipping on his martini.

 _"Mister Peck sir, fancy finding you here."_ Hannibal softly tells him as he joins his Lieutenant.

 _"Hiya mister Smith. Our girl did good, didn't she?"_

Hannibal smiles broadly, _"She did excellent."_ as he sips his drink.

BA joins them. _"What now Colonel?"_

 _"Stand down Sergeant."_

Face and BA look at each other confused. Hannibal didn't clue them in for this part of the evening.

 _"What is going to happen, Hannibal?"_ Face ask him.

 _"Just watch the table."_

BA grunts. _"Where's that fool Murdock?"_

Face looks up quickly. Murdock has left his post. Before he could ask about it, Hannibal motioned. In the corner where Cassie sat with the son, something has happened. Someone leans over the son like people do in gangster movies and whispers something in his ear. He apparently makes his excuses to Cassie and leaves quickly. Cassie sits there a little confused for a moment but not for long. Murdock appears behind her and offers her a hand.

The team looks at the small and seemingly unimportant scene in the background of a party. Cassie, who has just blatantly seduced the son of an oil baron, now seems to become very self conscious. From across the room they can see her blush and smile. She takes Murdock's hand and lets him lead her to the dance floor. It's a sort of jive, so there's a lovely rhythm going on. To everyone's surprise, Murdock is quite the dancer. They can clearly see the two laughing together and just enjoying the moment.

 _"Radio's off guys."_ Hannibal says, pulling the small device out of his ear. _"Won't be needing those tonight."_

Peck looks at his commandant with admiration. _"Did you have something to do with this Colonel?"_

Hannibal smiles above his glass. _"I may have left a small clue after the break in. The son will suspect somebody else from this party, which come in handy later."_ he explains. _"I knew he'd take off immediately after that, so I made sure to tell Murdock. Didn't you guys notice how his mouth nearly dropped to the floor when she came out in that dress?"_

BA and Face laughed and clicked their glasses.

 _"You a regular matchmaker Hannibal."_ says BA, _"Fool looked like he wanted to kill that kid the entire time he was up there."_ he says as he points to Murdock's venture point.

 _"You noticed that to?"_ asks Hannibal.

Face puts down his drink. _"So Hannibal, are we staying for the party? 'Cos if that's the case, I'll go and find that lovely blonde."_

Hannibal nods at Face, who promptly turns on his heals and disappears. He looks at BA and smiles. _"We deserve to let off some steam sometimes, don't we?"_

 _"You damn right we do!"_ BA agrees.

They both turn away to go for a drink in a quiet place where BA can drink some milk without being stared at, but not before Hannibal turns back and looks at the couple on the dance floor one last time. It is a slow song now, meant for people close together who shuffle slowly across the dance floor. Hannibal doesn't believe he has ever seen Murdock looks so content in his life. There he is now, holding Cassie in his arms, softly swaying the beat together. They look like they never want to let each other go.


	7. Chapter 7

The mission was over. The oil baron was indeed right about his son and the A Team had managed to expose him. Hannibal enjoys this part of the mission. The money-counting part that is. They drive off in the van, all 5 of them, all feeling content with a job well done.

 _"That went rather according to plan, won't you agree Face?"_ he quips to his Lieutenant.

 _"According to plan Hannibal? We nearly had our asses handed to us by those goons."_ Face whines _"My head is still sore!"_

Hannibal chuckles in the front seat and lights his cigar. _"We've got to deliver Murdock to the VA hospital first. Start thinking Face."_

Face salutes jokingly.

 _"I have an idea for that this time Hannibal."_

Hannibal looks up slightly surprised. Cassie never does anything to contradict an order of his.

 _"What's that kid?"_ he asks her.

He sees her swallow first and open her mouth second. She's nervous about this, he can tell. _"I live nearby anyway, so I can just drop him off and I can head home immediately after that."_

Hannibal senses ulterior motives, but he decides to not pursue the issue. He turns back to the front _"Face, you're off the hook this time!"_

Face also senses there's something Hannibal doesn't say, but goes along anyway. It's bound to be one of those plans of his anyway. _"Aye aye Colonel."_

The van stops two blocks away from the hospital and Cassie and Murdock get out. The goodbyes have already happened, so they part quickly. BA drives off quickly, but Hannibal puts his hand on his arm. _"Hold it Sergeant. Can you park on the street across form the entrance?"_

BA looks at Hannibal confused, but does as he's asked.

Cassie walks next to Murdock, feeling extremely nervous. Butterflies fly around in her stomach, making it almost impossible to speak.

 _"Cas? What's the matter?"_

She looks up and sees him watch her. Obviously he notices she isn't herself right now. He knows her so well that it's almost impossible for her to keep a secret. She looks into his brown eyes and smiles at him.

 _"Nothing. I just wanted to ask you something without the guys there."_

Murdock breathes out, feeling relieved. _"Sure Cas, what is it?"_

Cassie looks towards the road, trying to gather her thoughts. They are nearly at the hospital, and she knows it'll be to late once they are inside. She stops underneath a sturdy looking pine tree. _"What does HM stand for, Murdock?" she asks him._

He looks at her slightly startled. Where ever this conversation was going, this he hadn't seen that coming.

 _"Eeuh..."_ he fumbles as he stalls for time, _"Henry Mac."_ he says eventually. _"My full name is Henry Mac Murdock."_

Cassie smiles at him, butterflies raging at full force. She will now take an absolute leap of faith. She gathers up her courage and says _"So, Henry Mac Murdock. Is it ok with you if I call you Henry sometimes?"_

Murdock grins broadly. _"Sure that's ok Cas. Call me whatever you want."_

For Murdock, it feels like they have just taken a hurdle of some sort. They've made some sort of progress, he isn't sure what kind though. All he's sure of is that he really, really wants to kiss her right now. With all the butterflies in his stomach it is a miracle he isn't flying right now. She has that cute smile on her face and seems content to just be there with him. He can't kiss her though, because he doesn't want to create any weird vibes in the team. What if she doesn't see him that way? He will ruin everything if that's the case. He can't do that. He can't kiss her. Just can't.

 _"Henry?"_ Cassie whispers.

Murdock feels a chill run over his spine. Nobody has called him Henry in a long time. When she says it, it just feels right. Without thinking, he steps closer. Cassie puts her hands on his chest. His hands find her waist and he holds her close.

Standing like that, bodies pressed together, noses only inches apart, Murdock's brain simply stops to function. _"Yeah Cas?"_ is all he manages to whisper.

Looking deep in her eyes, he is completely lost. Her hands glide from his chest up to the back of his neck. She pulls him closer and kisses him. Murdock pulls her closer to him and kisses her right back. They stand like that for a while, completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

In the van across the street, Hannibal smiles and declares _"I love it when a plan comes together."_


	8. Chapter 8

At first, the team has to get used to the fact that Murdock now had a girlfriend. This isn't helped by the fact that his girlfriend is Cassie, a member of the team. But as time goes on, everybody slowly gets used to the idea. Murdock and Cassie continue to behave like they have always done. She still calls him Murdock when the team is around and after a while everybody relaxes.

Missions go by and it becomes Cassie's job to get Murdock in and out of the VA. When Face used to do it in the past, they often had to escape with doctors chasing them out of the building. It doesn't happen like that anymore. Cassie just walks in through the front door as Murdock waits for her at the reception desk. He gives her a kiss and they slowly walk out of the building holding hands.

It irritates Face to not know how she does it. Before the start of one mission, he sneaks in the VA hospital, sits himself down and waits for Murdock to arrive. He makes sure his fake nose is secure, his wig is in order and he wears clothes Murdock would never, ever suspect him in. He sits there waiting for Cassie.

It's not long before she turns up with a massive smile on her face. As she walks towards the reception desk, Murdock intercepts her and holds up a rose.

 _"A rose for my beautiful lady."_ he says, bowing down low. Cassie laughs as she takes the flower and smells it. Face looks up to the ceiling in an attempt to show his newspaper just how corny the gesture is. He can't deny it's working though.

 _"Cassie Smith to pick up Captain Murdock miss."_ Cassie says to the lady at the front dest.

 _"Aren't you a lucky one Murdock."_ the lady sighs, smiling at him. _"Go and have a lovely time with your girlfriend. You're expected back here next Tuesday at 12:00 sharp."_ She then turns back to Cassie _"Be sure to bring him back on time, because there will be a special group session later that day."_

Cassie smiles at the lady as she takes Murdock by the hand. _"I'll make sure he's back on time thank you. Have a lovely day!"_

"Bye Doreen!" shouts Murdock. Together they calmly walk out of the hospital.

Face sits there lost in thought.

 _"Sir, can I help you at all?"_

A lovely young nurse stands right next to him. Face smiles at her. _"No thank you, I'm late for a different appointment anyway. I sell syringes to hospitals, but I think John's not coming to collect any."_ He starts to get up. _"He must be late, and I'll come back some other time. You have a lovely day now."_

He turns on his heels and walks out. That's that mystery solved.

The members of the team all do different things with their pay. Murdock saves most of it, but for his bills to the hospital. The hospital doesn't know he's the one paying them off course. They think it's his aunt Mildred from Florida.

Face pulls many scams with his money. Looking the part is a costly affair however and sometimes things don't go according to plan. There was that time he tried to be a Hollywood producer. He had to buy a script for that particular scam and it didn't go too well. He never managed to produce the movie.

BA gives a lot of his money away. He doesn't live like a rich man, but he actively tries to make everyone else's life better on his block. Most notably his own mum and the kids at his youth centre.

Nobody really knows what Hannibal spends money on, he's quite a private person. The team does know he acts in monster movies, so that's another source of income for him. Hannibal owns a small flat and it's rather cosy. He usually saves his money and doesn't spend it without thinking. It's his nest egg for when the military clears their names and he'll be free from prosecution. He intends to take a long holiday when that happens.

Cassie only recently joined the team, but because she has always lived on the street, she isn't used to much luxury. She was always cautious, in the past good things had a habit of disappearing. She usually didn't spend her pay, just because there was the possibility everything would go tits up and she'd end up on her own on the street again. She had made a vow to herself that would never happen. After her relation with Murdock, or Henry as she calls him, became a genuine long term relationship, she started to look around for a house.

She bought a house not far away from the VA and after a while all the doctors and nurses knew who she was. She also had a great effect on Murdock's temperament. When he was with her, the craziness was still there. But he had lost that fever pitch of madness that sometimes would overtake him in the past. She calmed him down. The doctors saw that as well.

Months have passed since the oil baron's job. The team comes together in one of Hannibal's warehouses. It has been two weeks since their last mission and Hannibal is eager to start the meeting.

 _"Ok, so this is the situation guys."_ Hannibal starts the meeting. _"Tomorrow I'll meet the client for the first time. I need Cassie outside of Mr Lee's, you know the drill. Face..."_

 _"Euh Hannibal, a moment?"_ interrupts Cassie.

Hannibal looks thrown off balance for a second. Most of the time, the team doesn't interrupt him when he's explaining a plan of his. _"Yeah girl?"_ he ask her. He studies Cassie as she stands there with Murdock holding her by the waist.

She breathes in deeply, looks at Murdock and looks back at the 3 men. _"This is my last mission for now."_

Face and BA just stare at her, completely taken aback by her comment. Face tries to come up with some arguments but just turns red and starts stammering. BA looks cross, but it's different from his usual look. There is a great deal of sadness in his eyes. Hannibal just stands there, his face blank. He's sure there is more to this and patiently awaits Cassie to explain.

She breaks out in a grin and says _"We're expecting a baby."_

Murdock looks incredibly proud as he hugs her tight and smiles at his friends.

Hannibal, Face and BA all start cheering at the same time. Hannibal grabs Cassie in a massive hug. He's almost in tears. BA and Face have Murdock in a bearhug and are jumping up and down.

Hugs fly around, tears fall down and joy is all around. When everybody has calmed down they sit for a second. The mission is momentarily forgotten and Cassie and Murdock are now the focus of the meeting.

 _"How far are you?"_ asks Hannibal.

 _"I tested it last week. I'm 6 weeks in. I immediately told Murdock and we agreed to tell you guys today."_ she explains.

Here she pauses for a moment. _"I can't endanger the baby, so this one will be my last mission. Murdock and I talked about it. He will keep going on missions with you guys."_

The team looked at Murdock. _"Don't you want to stay at home with your girl and child?"_ asks Hannibal.

Murdock looks at his girl and smiles as he shakes his head. He looks his commander straight in the eyes. _"If I stay home and one of you guys gets hurt, I'll never forgive myself for not having been there."_ he explains.

Cassie now takes over. _"I totally believe him when he says that. He'd hate himself if that happened."_

Face starts nodding his head. He knows his friend very well and it would eat the good pilot up from the inside. He looks Cassie in the eyes. _"Won't you be scared when he's on a mission with us?"_

Cassie smiles a sad smile. _"Of course I'll worry. But I won't worry any more than any other army wife. And you'll keep him safe for me, I'm sure of it."_ She looks the team in the eyes. _"I absolutely believe you four idiots will keep each other safe."_ she declares.


	9. Chapter 9

The brakes on the van make the wheels stop spinning. The big tires skid a little further on the loose dirt on the ground. The noise travels through the open doors of the church.

 _"Here they are."_ says Murdock to his heavily pregnant fiancé.

 _"And only 5 minutes late."_ Cassie says, smiling. _"I guess I can live with that."_

She puts her 2 hands on her heavily extended belly and breathes out deeply. It feels like the baby is playing football in there and Cassie isn't very comfortable. Her man beside her notices and supports her as they stand in front of the vicar together.

Hannibal, Face and BA enter the church together. They are all wearing a tux, yet they do look a little crumpled. They had put them on whilst driving, otherwise they would have been late.

Hannibal looks at Cassie standing there round like a beach ball. The last time he saw her she was nowhere as big as this. He stops for a moment to just look at her. She looks so happy. Murdock next to her looks as proud as ever. They look so happy together. Murdock's madness has subsided remarkably. He'll never get rid of the dreams and quite often he still gets lost in his own head. But when he's with Cassie he seems to prefer to live in the present than in his own world.

Cassie slowly walks toward Hannibal. BA stands behind Murdock, smiling broadly at him. He's holding his shoulder and squeezes it softly. Murdock just smiles wordlessly at his friend. They might bicker until the sun falls from the sky but when push comes to shove they have each other's backs. Face stands there on the other side opposite of Murdock. He smiles at Cassie, awaiting her standing there.

As she arrives in front of Hannibal, they look each other deep in the eyes. Hannibal feels all warm and fuzzy inside. He's worried he'll cry soon, but on a day like this you're allowed to cry. He takes a deep breath and holds it in. He smiles at Cassie and extends his arm.

 _"Shall we, my lovely lady?"_

She takes his arm and together they walk towards the altar. _"You look beautiful love."_ he whispers.

She smiles at him. Their steps follow the same beat until they arrive at the altar. There Hannibal stops. He now has to give her away. In movies, the father sometimes holds on a little to long, just for comedic effect. That not letting go of the arm of the bride, that's funny somehow. Hannibal now understands how they feel. He'd rather not do this. He knows Murdock will do right by her, he knows Murdock really well. And yet. He'd feel better if he didn't have to do this. He does feel immensely proud though.

He turns to Cassie, kisses her on the cheek and hands her to Murdock. Murdock looks him in the eyes and nods gratefully. Hannibal breathes out deeply and sits down on one of the chairs in the church. He takes a moment to look at his shoes and gather his thoughts. Then he looks up and takes in the moment. His girl standing on the altar, holding Murdock and looking so radiant and happy he thinks his heart will burst.

They exchange vows. It's nothing special, just promises to always be there for each other and to love each other always. Face and BA smile when the vicar asks for witnesses.

 _"If anyone objects to this union, let them speak now or be forever silent."_

Silence follows that remark. Murdock and Cassie look at each other, smiling like idiots. They hold hands. The beams of sunshine break through the glass and touches Cassie's face. It looks like she is wearing a golden halo. She looks like an angel in her white dress. A heavily pregnant angel, that is.

 _"I now declare you husband and wife."_ BA clasps his hands in front of his mouth and smiles through his fingers. Face just clasps his hands in front of him and looks at Murdock, feeling very proud. Hannibal wipes away a tear.

The happy couple comes together and kisses for the first time as husband and wife. Everyone starts clapping. Cheers fill the church and scare away the ravens there nesting in the rafters. Cassie and Murdock come apart and everyone joins in a massive group hug.

Later that day everyone sits down in Cassie and Murdock's living room. Cassie is in the kitchen, getting some snacks ready. Murdock looks at his friends sitting in the couches and hears his wife walking around in the kitchen.

He stands up and says _"I'll be right back guys."_

"Better go and help the missus Murdock!" Face quips, holding his beer.

Murdock smiles at his friend. "Exactly!" and leaves for the kitchen.

The team sips from their beers and sit in content silence for a moment. Suddenly they hear raised voices coming from the kitchen. Face's eyebrows shoot up and he leans over, trying to listen. Hannibal grabs his shoulder and pulls him back into the couch.

 _"That's private Lieutenant."_ he says.

Face looks around uncomfortably. _"It sounds like Murdock isn't the one wearing the trousers in this relation, that's all."_

BA leans forward. _"Mind yo own Face."_

Before Face can respond, the all look up and see a smiling Cassie shove Murdock out of his kitchen. Murdock doesn't seem sad about it at all. He walks back to his friends smiling. He sits down next to BA and grabs a beer.

Face quickly leans forward and asks _"What was that about, Murdock?"_ before Hannibal can silence him.

 _"Lieutenant! Leave him alone."_ he snaps.

Murdock raises his hands in a pacifying gesture. _"It's fine guys."_ he explains. _"Apparently my lovely wife has a surprise in there. So I was asked to leave the premises."_ he concludes with a smile on his face.

Face sits slightly stunned. He usually isn't wrong about these things, but this time he really was barking up the wrong tree. He makes a mental note to not question the relationship of Murdock and Cassie again. He suspects he's the inexperienced one in this situation.

 _"Ok everyone, eyes closed please." comes_ from the kitchen.

Murdock smiles and closes his eyes. Grinning, everyone follows suit.

The team can hear Cassie approaching slowly. She must be carrying something heavy. She puts it down with an audible thud.

 _"Ok guys. Open them."_

Murdock opens his eyes to see his wife stand next to their dinner table. On it stands a tall cake. It has about 4 tiers and looks glazed to perfection. The cake has a light blue shade and the top tier is four times a small as the bottom one. When he studies the cake in more detail he notices that it's not just black curls and lines that adorn the sides. There are drawings hidden in the design. He recognizes the black outlines of a leather jacket that now hangs in his closet. Black leather gloves. A Corvette. Feather's and golden chains. Cassie had made an A Team cake and it looks absolutely stunning.

On top she had put a little figure of a bride and groom, but they aren't wearing the standard things. Murdock walks closer and recognizes the little bride's dress. It's the lovely white dress Cassie wore in the mission of the oil baron. The first time they danced together. The small puppet isn't wearing a standard back tux either. His counterpart wears his clothes from that day.

He looks up from the cake and looks at Cassie. Her eyes sparkle and he can't even express how much he loves her right now. His stunned silence seems to be enough. He leans forward and kisses her slowly, something he usually doesn't do in front of the team. When the kiss ends he looks her in her eyes.

 _"I love you Cassie."_

She smiles at him. _"I love you to Henry."_ He pulls her into a hug. He's cautious with her massive belly and after a while he looks up to face the team.

They are all still sitting there, allowing the two lovers to have a moment for themselves. Now they notice the moment has ended and they also approach the cake.

Hannibal bows down to examine it closer. _"Did you make this Cassie? It looks gorgeous."_

Cassie shrugs modestly. _"I discovered I like baking Hannibal. And I wanted Murdock to have a wedding cake."_ She looks up at her husband. _"Remember? We were walking and you..."_

 _"Yeah!"_ Murdock remembers. _"That little shop had the best cakes ever!"_ Murdock says as his face lights up with the memory of that day. _"They looked so pretty Colonel! Like joy on a plate! Like a big mountain of joy!"_

He looks at Cassie. _"But this one is the best one I have ever seen."_

BA comes closer. _"It looks so good Cas. Ain't never seen a wedding cake with feathers on."_

Face has a plate in his hands. _"Plates anyone? Seems a shame to ruin such a lovely cake, but you know..."_

Cassie laughs out loud. She grabs the knife and starts to cut a piece for everyone. They sit down on the couches and enjoy a very delicious cake. Murdock makes sure Cassie doesn't move anymore. She isn't allowed to cook and Murdock tells her to sit back and let him cook dinner.

They have a lovely evening together, with good food made by the pilot. At the end of the evening Cassie starts to get really tired. It had been an exhausting day for her. Hannibal picks up on this.

 _"I think it's best for us to leave now guys, don't you think?"_ he proposes.

They say their goodbyes and move out. Suddenly the house feels very empty. It's a good empty. Murdock looks around at the mess and tells Cassie _"Tomorrow I will clean, Mrs Murdock. Tonight we just go to bed."_

Cassie yawns, so that is all the response Murdock needs to pick her up and carry her upstairs. He helps her undress, because she can't really reach her socks anymore. Seeing how tired she is, he tucks her in and gets under the covers with her. She is fighting to stay awake at this point. He lays himself down comfortably next her and puts his hand on her belly underneath the covers.

 _"Goodnight love."_

She smiles at him, grateful for his support.

Before she can respond her eyes close and she's out like a light. Murdock looks at her face for a few more moments before he closes his eyes as well.


	10. Chapter 10

4 years pass by. The army still chases the team, but now that they are protected by General Stockwell it's less of a threat. General Stockwell knows about Cassie, but he tends to keep her out of things. They continue to help people, but always without Cassie. She's a mother now and stays home to be with her children.

She and Murdock have a four year old daughter Abigail and a three year old boy Stuart. Abigail looks a lot like her father, especially when she smiles. She is Murdock's little princes. She's very opinionated, like most 4 year olds are, but she's so very polite about it. When she has her imaginary tea party she drinks with her pinky up. BA absolutely adores the little girl and frequently lets her boss him around.

Stuart looks like his mother. He's a very adventurous little boy. You'll always find him reaching for a tree branch, running after his sister in the hallway and generally laughing and babbling loudly. Cassie has to keep a close eye on him, because if he's left unsupervised he can make an unbelievable mess.

Murdock still goes on missions with the team but he tries to spend as much time as possible at home. Because he's now married, he has sort of been released by the VA hospital. Once a month he has an appointment with his psychiatrist and once a month he has to go to the hospital for a day of treatment. Mostly it's group sessions, talking to his fellow patients. He became sort of a model patient.

When things get too intense, when his fever pitch of madness returns, he simply goes back to the VA for a few days. This happens maybe once every 5 months. They seem to make it work. Cassie does the accounting for a little shop down the road. She can do this at home, so it's a great job for her and it brings enough money in to get by.

Sometimes she'll help out the team with research and things like that, but her crime fighting days are mostly over. Murdock never stays home when the team goes on a mission. That was the deal they made and Cassie absolutely insists that he doesn't let the team down because of her.

Everything goes on without a hitch. They have even gotten a new member, Frankie. He's a young and bright kid, even though he can be a bit crude at times. It was quite a shock for him to hear that the quirky Murdock is a married man with two children but they became very close friends. He frequently comes over for dinner at their house and Abigail and Stuart adore their uncle Frankie.

Cassie's home one night. Everything is going great. The kids are in bed. She pushes the last of her papers aside and sighs contently. She stretches the kinks out of her back and takes a last sip of her coffee. It's cold, of course it's cold. She sometimes gets so swept up in her paperwork that nothing else penetrates her brain.

Suddenly there's a knock on the door. Cassie frowns. Who could that be? It's ten 'o clock at night. The knocking gets louder and more frantic. Quickly she gets up and walks towards the door. If this wakes up her babies, she'll be furious. Before she grabs the door handle she gets her can of pepper spray ready. At the moment she's alone. You can't be too careful when someone knocks at your door at ten 'o clock at night when you're alone.

Pepper spray in hand, she opens the door. The rain outside is pouring. It's a truly terrifying night to be out, right out of the movies. Lightning flashes and she recognizes the man in front of her.

 _"Frankie!"_ Cassie exclaims in surprise.

Frankie looks very tired. His clothes are dirty and scratched. He smells like he needs a bath with 5 different types of oils and bubbles. He looks like he could use one as well. Cassie gets the impression he's been running for a while. As he stands there he sways softly from side to side. Cassie manages to catch him before he passes out on her doorstep. Suddenly an icy pick of fear gets her right in the stomach. Worry for her husband. Fear for her friends. She swallows the feelings for now and focusses on the unconscious man in her arms. She drags him inside.

She puts him on the big table. He has a blanket under his head for comfort but that's all she can give him. His clothes are soaked so she needs to take those off immediately. When he's completely naked, she can see the bullet wound in his side. It's just a graze, but this doesn't help her fear to go down at all.

She drapes a blanket over the unconscious man and starts to attend to his wounds. He has some minor scrapes, some serious cuts on his arms and that bullet wound. She takes care of everything and goes up to get some of Murdock's clothes.

As she enters their bedroom, it feels like a punch to the gut as everything suddenly reminds her of her husband. Tears stream down her face and she grabs the clothes she needs. The soft fabric underneath her fingers feels so familiar it's almost unbearable. It's like her husband is there in the room with her, only he isn't. She cries in silence because her children are asleep in the room next to theirs. Cradling the clothes she peeks inside, tears obscuring her vision. Both of them are fast asleep, their chests going up and down without any worry or thought.

She closes the door and heads back to her patient. As she comes down, she can see he's awake. He's looking at her, clutching the towel very closely. She wipes her eyes quickly although she knows he saw her cry. She hands him the clothes.

Frankie recognizes the outfit. It's Murdock's. He looks at Cassie's tears and feels incredibly guilty once more. He didn't want to involve her in this at all. He takes the clothes and puts them on. It's a nice blue shirt and some jeans. It feels terribly wrong to even be wearing Murdock's underwear, but beggar's can't be choosers.

The silence seems to drag out for hours, even though it's only a few minutes. He looks up and Cassie's still looking at him. She doesn't badger him with questions, she doesn't rush him into explaining, she just waits patiently. Frankie suddenly realizes why his friend loves her so much. Her calm is a perfect match for Murdock's mania.

 _"I'm sorry to be barging in so late ma'am."_

He always calls her ma'am, a little to tease but mostly out of respect for Murdock.

 _"It's no problem."_ says Cassie, her voice trembling only a little. _"Now, what happened?"_

Again, Frankie is impressed. She doesn't become hysteric at all and demands to know about Murdock. He looks at her as she stands there, trying her best to keep herself together.

 _"It all went wrong earlier and I only just escaped."_ Frankie starts. _"I have no idea what happened to the boys, but I didn't know what to do, so I came here."_

Cassie approaches him with a smile on her face. It's not a happy smile, she's just trying to reassure him. She puts her hand on his shoulder and coaches him off the table.

 _"Come Frankie. Let's sit on the couch for a moment. And breathe kid. Breathe."_

He does as he's told and finds it slightly loosens the knot in his throat.

 _"Now, start from the beginning kid. What was the mission and what went wrong?"_

Frankie takes a deep breath and begins his explanation.

A few days earlier the team came together. They had done the whole mr Lee thing, there was a hot dog vendor involved and they found no fault in the request. An 10 year old boy came to them, convinced his dad didn't run away but was in fact, kidnapped.

The kid didn't know anything about who would kidnap his father, only that his dad had bought tickets to a very important football game for them to watch together. He's utterly convinced his dad wouldn't miss that game for anything in the world. He didn't have enough the money to pay the team but he had taken all of his pocket money with him. It was something like 80 dollars and he wanted to give them all of it.

The team declined to take his money but took the case anyway.

So off they went, ruffled some people's feathers, broke in in someone's office, planted a bug or two, followed their noses and generally made a nuisance of themselves. They found out the father was indeed kidnapped and went on a rescue mission.

Frankie stops his story for a second to take a breather. Cassie can read his body language and goes to the kitchen for a glass of water. She's dying to just grab him by the shoulders and shake him and scream in his face "What happened to my husband!" but that wouldn't be very helpful in this situation. It's best to just let him tell his story his way. The kidnapping does worry her a lot.

She brings him the glass of water and he takes a sip. Frankie continues his tale.

Lying on his belly on the roof, Hannibal studies the building. It's your typical office building, an evil tower of steel and glass. The windows are tinted so nobody can look inside. With his special infrared binoculars he can see the people move inside though. They look like red blobs, red masses just walking around. So far it doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. All they know is that Scott's father went inside and never came out again. But how, Hannibal wonders. They could've taken him out on the underground parking lot, but he came by bus. It's rather difficult to move an unconscious body through an office and not attract any attention. Somehow Hannibal doubts that that's how they did it. Way to obvious. There are camera's in the parking lot as well. That's evidence. You can make it disappear, but it can usually be found by cunning investigators.

So not the parking lot. Hannibal moves his body slightly. Lying on a roof made of concrete isn't the most fun way to observe a building. So he keeps studying the building until he notices something. He takes a closer look to confirm his suspicions. He's correct.

 _"Face!"_ he yells behind him. His Lieutenant hears him and approaches.

 _"Yeah Hannibal?"_ he asks.

He motions down and hands him the binoculars. Face drops down on the roof and takes them from his commander.

 _"Ok what am I looking at?"_ he asks, binoculars in front of his eyes.

 _"Look at the right corner of the building."_

It takes a minute for Face to study the building. _"Sorry Hannibal, I don't see anything."_ he says as he puts the binoculars down.

Hannibal smiles. _"Yeah."_ he confirms. _"You see nothing right? No offices with people in, no people near the coffee machine like on the 5th floor there. There are no people in the right corner of the building."_

Face's eyes open in wonder and his quickly gets the binoculars out to confirm that that's indeed the case. _"Damn, you're right Hannibal. No people are in any of the rooms there. There must be offices in that corner, right?"_

He puts the binoculars down again. Hannibal motions behind him and they retreat to cover. The team huddles together and Hannibal explains his hunch.

 _"You guys remember when that monstrosity was build? A lot of workers died here. It was quite the scandal and the company that build it went bankrupt."_ he explains. _"It was in all the papers at the time. Now, I can see nothing moving in the offices in the right corner."_

He looks at his team intently, to make sure they get the message. _"Now, hear me out. What if there's some sort of lift or something going from the top to under the ground. All of those offices seem to be unused. It'd be the perfect way to get someone out of the building without anyone knowing where he or she went."_

Murdock's eyes light up for a second. _"A secret lift Colonel. That's brilliant!'_

Hannibal smiles at him. _"We'll have to check this. I know it sounds mad, but I don't know how they would have gotten him out of the building if there wasn't a secret passageway."_ he explains. _"And that right corner is unused and empty, which is very odd for a normal office building."_

Hannibal's eyes suddenly shine bright with the Jazz. _"We'll have to get our exterminator gear out gentlemen."_

A while later the team enters the building. Face and Murdock walk on point and the others carry the 'heavy equipment'.

 _"Well yeah Frank, that's gonna be costly!"_ starts Face.

The poor bloke at reception just stares in confusion. Face has to clarify. _"We had a call from Bob that there are rats in the building!"_ he concludes gravely.

Murdock next to him just nods and tries to look important.

 _"Euh, could you just give me your names please?"_ the man stammers.

 _"We're PEC. Philips Extermination Company."_ Face says as he leans on the desk. _"Catchy ain't it? We just gotta check some offices around here, you know, to make sure the pesky buggers haven't spread too far."_

As he says that suddenly they can hear a scream coming from inside.

Face starts gesturing furiously. _"See now, that's gotta be what Bob warned us about. Pack up your gear boys, we're going in!"_ The team behind him grabs their stuff and walks towards the brightly lit hallways of this steel tower.

Now Hannibal takes the point and they march towards the office at the end of the hallway. His internal compass tells him it's one of the offices in the right corner of the company.

 _"Face."_ he says.

His Lieutenant understands and drops to one knee. He picks the lock in seconds and they go inside quickly. They unpack the guns they had hidden in the 'equipment' and start to investigate the room.

 _"Spread out guys and do it quickly."_ Hannibal orders as he heads to the filing cabinet.

At first glance it looks like a normal office. There's a desk, a chair and a window. It has a reading lamp, some stationary and a computer. A filing cabinet stands against the wall, and there's a large closet against the other wall.

Everyone searches frantically, but it's no use. There's nothing in the office. It appears to be unused. The filing cabinet is filled with empty files, the computer has nothing on it and there are no pictures of smiling children on the desk.

 _"There's nothing in these files Hannibal."_ Face confirms. "Just dust and mothballs."

Murdock looks up from the window. _"Doesn't this room feel small to you guys?"_

BA grumbles. _"Now's not the time for yo crazy talk Murdock!"_

Murdock silences him. _"No BA, I'm serious. Hannibal, doesn't the wall look bigger on the outside than this wall here?"_

Curiously, Hannibal comes closer. Murdock is right. The wall from the window to the edge of the building is almost tree meters long, but the wall in the office isn't even 2 meters long. Smiling, Hannibal puts his hand on Murdock's shoulder. _"Well spotted Captain!"_

Hannibal goes up to the wall and starts to knock on it. _"There's gotta be a secret passageway behind this wall."_ He looks up to his friends. _"It sounds hollow guys."_

The first thing they check is the walk in closet. Why is there such a large walk in closet in an office anyway. It makes very little sense. After a little prodding and pushing random things something clicks. Murdock jumps backwards as the secret partition disappears in the wall.

Hannibal grabs his gun and goes in. _"Keep your eyes open guys."_

The team finds themselves on a very small platform. Right next to them is a hole in the floor, it leads down and up. Cables hang there, dangling ever so slightly. It's an elevator shaft. There is a very small ladder next to the elevator shaft, presumably for emergencies.

Hannibal looks at his team and they all nod. He turns around and goes down the ladder. It's not a nice sight, seeing your commander disappear in darkness. Everyone descends, and Frankie goes last. He's halfway down, he can see all the others stand there. He has butterflies in his stomach, but it isn't any worse than any other mission. Before his foot touches the ground, all hell breaks loose. Guns go off in every direction. People shout. BA grunting in pain, Face yelling defiantly and Murdock pushing him back up the ladder. His feet don't seem to obey quick enough, but Frankie flies up the stairs, he hits his head and sees stars. Murdock behind him yells in surprise.

Frankie looks down and sees a goon pulling his friend down. Murdock now lays on the concrete, looking dazed. Frankie looks at the goon and something clicks in his head. He sprints up the rest of the stairs. He still has his gun, but he isn't confident he can ever shoot someone. He runs for his life as the bad guy is in hot pursuit. He bursts out of the closet, passes the filing cabinet and kicks open the door. He sprints out of the office and starts to run through the hallway. A shot is fired and he nearly falls flat on his face as his brain registers the impact. Then the pain hits him. The bastard has shot him. Frankie keeps running and doesn't slow down.

He's faintly aware of the alarm. He arrives in the lobby. There are security guards near the exits. The guy is still chasing him with a gun. Frankie doesn't hesitate, shoots a window and jumps through it. Glass cuts open his palms and arms as he holds them in front of him in an effort to protect his face. When he's outside he simply runs away in a panic.

Frankie looks at Cassie. His story is finished and he doesn't quite know what to do now. She looks lost in thought.

 _"Ma'am?"_

Cassie looks up at him and he can see she's scared. Really scared.


	11. Chapter 11

_"I don't think this is a good plan ma'am."_ Frankie objects.

Cassie doesn't stop her preparations at all.

 _"Cassie, will you stop for a minute?"_ he asks whilst grabbing her hand.

She looks at him and he can see there's no changing her mind.

 _"You can't help me Frankie. You're injured. You need to stay here and take care of my children. They know you, you'll be fine."_ she orders him. _"I'm going to get them out. You stay here and protect Abbi and Stu."_

Frankie looks quite desperate now. _"But I don't even know where the guys went, I have no idea where those bastards took them! How are you going to rescue them?"_

Cassie smiles a sad smile. _"The quickest way to get into a prison is to get captured yourself."_

Cassie crawls on her belly across the square. The grass is wet with morning dew. The moon shines overhead. Her black outfit will be dirty in no time but that's the point. She'll be difficult to see like that.

She arrives at the office the guys broke into a little earlier. The window is above her head, and she quickly peeks in. There's nothing out of the ordinary. Everything is exactly like Frankie described. It looks like an unused office. She takes out Face's spare set of tools. The team always has a spare set of equipment nearby for when they need to make a quick escape. She gets the glass cutter out Face sometimes uses to break in places. It's fairly simple and she's seen him do it a thousand times.

Stick the middle sucker on the window. Draw a neat circle around it with the cutting bit. Use the sucking thing to make sure the glass doesn't fall out. She takes out the glass circle and sticks her hand through it. She unlocks the window.

She enters the room but leaves the window open for when she needs to make a quick escape. She ignores everything and goes immediately for the secret door. Speed is of the essence. She arrives at the elevator shaft and descents into darkness. She arrives down without a problem. She quickly ducks into the shadows behind a nearby crate and observes her surroundings. Now she's on her own, because Frankie didn't get this far. All he told her is that the team was heading further down the corridor.

Cassie takes a deep breath and leaves her hiding spot. She quickly makes her way down the corridor. She grips her gun tightly and cringes every time she makes a small sound. The corridor ends. There's an open door at the end. Several voices come from behind the door. She approaches it slowly.

Suddenly something that looks like lightning breaks out above her. Bright lights fall from the ceiling. It's too late to dodge out of the way and the lights hit her. It hurts like hell! It feels like she's being set on fire from the inside!

She drops down on the floor, feeling utterly stunned. She realizes the bastards dropped a net on her and that lightning came from an electrical charge. She still can't move though, her muscles won't obey her.

The door opens. Two goons point their pistols at her as a bigger jerk enters. He holds a remote of some sort in his hand and smiles at her.

 _"Did you think we're stupid lady? This must be the saddest rescue attempt ever."_

 _"You're the saddest people ever, so I thought it was rather appropriate."_ Cassie quipped back. She learned that from the best.

His smile disappears and he pushes the button again. Cassie's bravado vanishes in a torrent of lightning and pain.

-

Hannibal stares at the wall. He tries his best to think up of a plan but that always gets more and more difficult when you're in pain. They beat him earlier, trying to get him to talk. Then they beat Face in front of him. Those images take him right back to the POW camp in Vietnam. The confinement, the beatings. These guys aren't nearly as bad as their captors then, but they are enough to trigger flashbacks. He breathes in and out, trying to calm his heartbeat. At least Frankie made it out, that's something. Hannibal doesn't know how that kid is going to launch a rescue mission though. Frankie is a good kid, but a tactical genius he ain't.

Hannibal sighs as he turns to his teammates. Everyone wears the evidence of their captivity. He sports bruises everywhere and Face can barely move his arm. Hannibal is convinced the brutes almost broke it. Everyone sits on the floor, their hands all bound behind their backs. Chains run from their bound wrists to a metal ring for each of them that's mounted on the wall. There is very little they can do in this situation.

All Hannibal can do is wait for something to change. He has to be ready for something different and be ready to take advantage of it. Right now, they have to wait. He looks at his pilot. Murdock doesn't look too good. He went insane in 'Nam and Hannibal can see his sanity is hanging by a thread. When that thread gets stretched too thin, it can snap all over again.

A door opens further down. Hannibal hears someone being dragged across the ground. He doesn't think anything of it, it's not the first time they have drag people after a torture session. Marcus Gyle stops in front of their cell and smiles at Hannibal.

 _"Put her here guys."_ he grumbles at the 2 guys behind him.

The team suddenly look up in fright. Hannibal can feel an icy hand grab his heart and squeeze it to the size of a walnut. The two guys are dragging Cassie to the cell. They dump her to the ground and leave.

 _"Silence Captain!"_ Hannibal shouts at Murdock. He can see the pilot is at the edge of losing it, and has to stop him.

 _"Everyone, shut up!"_ Hannibal shouts.

This must be the only time Murdock doesn't listen to an order of his commander.

 _"Cas! Cassie! Honey are you ok?"_ he shouts as he pulls on his chains. Face and BA can see he's pulling with all his might, his wrists turning bright red from the pressure.

Marcus Gyle comes back, flanked by his two goons. _"Well that was easy, wasn't it gents? Do it."_

Murdock starts roaring in defiance and now even BA is slightly scared of him. He has never seen Murdock this mad. Angry mad, not crazy mad.

The 2 guys grab Cassie and wake her up by sticking her head in an emmer of water. She immediately starts thrashing and they look a Marcus for guidance. Hannibal looks on in horror as Marcus waits for almost 20 seconds before he nods at them. They pull her out of the water and Cassie gasps for breath. They punch her cruelly in her stomach and knock the air right back out. She's goes limp from the pain.

Marcus Gyle steps behind her and twists her arm behind her. Cassie groans softly. A little more and he'll break her arm, but he knows exactly when to stop for the pain to be at a maximum level without breaking anything.

 _"You guys take that one."_ he says, pointing at Murdock. He then sniffs Cassie's neck, and drags her along in front of the team. It takes three men to restrain Murdock as they drag him away, screaming furiously.

Hannibal, Face and BA look at each other in horror. Murdock will say anything to protect Cassie. Nobody will blame him if he tells them anything they want to know. Hannibal looks around. Now something has changed. Now he has to work with that change and think up a way out of here. But all he can think about is Cassie thrashing in a bucket of water.

-

His screams proceed him. The immediately recognize their friend screaming as loud as he can. Four men carry him along, holding him up by the arms and legs. The fifth guy quickly opens their cell and they manage to chain him up.

Marcus Gyle stands at their cell, looking very smug.

 _"He told us everything we wanted to know within 5 minutes, Colonel Smith."_ he addresses Hannibal.

Hannibal knows it's true because they hadn't given them their ranks or names. If he knows them now, that means Murdock told them everything.

 _"But you know, it's always fun to torture a girl with her man looking on, so we carried on for a while."_ Marcus said, smiling cruelly.

The sixth man drags an unconscious Cassie over the floor. She looks like she took quite a beating and she's dripping with water. They throw her inside her cel and turn the key.

 _"Enjoy the rest of your evening gents."_ Marcus sneers smugly and he turns away.

Murdock feels like his heart will break any second now. The walls of reality start to crumble around him. He can see the world that exists inside his own mind through the cracks already. For the moment his defenses seem to hold, but it all depends on Cassie. If she doesn't wake up, the walls will break. He focusses on her. He doesn't register anything else but her face. She won't see him like a broken gibbering wreck. She's his anchor to the real world, so he just keeps saying her name.

 _"Cas. Just hold on for me now please. Come on girl, don't you dare leave me alone. Come on Cas, open your eyes. Please Cassie please. Please don't die Cassie. Please open your eyes Cas."_

Somewhere in his head, this evokes a memory from a time long ago. That was the moment he realized he wouldn't be able to go on if she'd die. He understands how that younger version of himself felt. He feels it just as strong now as he did back then.

She moves.

Suddenly, Murdock is silent for a moment. She moved, he's sure of it.

 _"Murdock, she moved."_

Murdock turns to his commander, looking perplexed. Hannibal looks at him with a smile on his face. _"She moved, Murdock."_

 _"Cassie!"_ roars BA. The sound startles Murdock, who didn't expect that much sound coming from right next to him.

That did it, because their girl suddenly opens her eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

_"Cas, honey. How do you feel?"_ Murdock asks her.

 _"Not so good Henry. A lot of things hurt right now."_ she says, grimacing as she sits upright.

 _"I'm so sorry honey."_

She smiles at him. _"Don't be silly, silly."_ she says. She lowers her voice and whispers softly. _"It's all part of my awesome plan."_

Hannibal looks at her intently when she says that. Her head turns and she smiles at him. He smiles back. She truly is his daughter.

 _"What did you have in mind mylady?"_ he asks her.

Cassie crawls to the bars and grab _s hold of them. "What's security like?" she asks._

 _"Regular patrols during the day."_ he explains. _"Last night there was only one guy, and he just did a patrol twice."_

Cassie thinks for a moment. _"We'll get out at night, right after his first patrol."_

 _"Euh Cassie, dear."_ Face interrupts. _"We're chained to the wall. We can't overpower the patrol guy when we're like this."_

Even in a dire situation like this Cassie can still give quite the stare. She stares at Face for a while and says _"No shit Sherlock. All hail Captain Obvious."_

Murdock chuckles softly and BA even laughs out loud. Cassie then winks at Face. He smiles right back at her, showing there are no hard feelings.

She covers her mouth and whispers softly _"I brought your lock picking tools with me."_

Hannibal stares at her for a moment. _"Kid, how did you do that?"_ he asks in wonder.

 _"They are in my shoe."_ Cassie answers proudly.

 _"Cas, where are Abi and Stu? Who's with them?"_ Murdock suddenly asks. He was preoccupied with his wife for a moment, but now his children are on his mind.

Cassie looks him straight in the eyes and says _"Frankie is with them now. He turned up at our door with a bullet wound, so I couldn't take him along anyway."_

She sees him take in the information and store it away for further use. Right now they need to focus on escaping.

 _"So guys, there are no shackles in my cell. I will keep the tools with me. Act normally and later this night I will pass them along. Until then, just keep hanging on."_ she concludes. She looks at the four men, confident that they all understand the plan.

Later that day Marcus Gyle comes by again. He looks at Hannibal. _"I've notified the army about you guys. They will pick you up tomorrow for a nice ransom. They didn't speak of the girl, so I'm keeping her here."_

He smiles at them all. _"Now, don't pull anything on me now guys. I will show you what I'll do when you annoy me."_

He turns and opens Cassie's cel door. She takes a few steps back looking scared but as he sets one foot in her cel, Cassie charges at him. He's almost twice her size so her fight is in vain. He slams her against the wall and starts punching her where he can. After a while he's satisfied and leaves the cel.

He looks at the team whilst he cleans the blood of his knuckles. _"So it'll be like that, but worse. Get it Smith?"_

He turns on his heals and leaves them behind. _"Lock up behind me."_ they hear hem tell the guard.

Tears fall from Murdock's eyes. It's the worst type of torture, seeing someone you love being hurt and being unable to help them. As his tears keep coming, Cassie opens her eyes.

One of her eyes is swelling shut, but the other one searches for her husband.

 _"Henry."_ she whispers.

 _"Yeah, Cas?"_ he asks.

 _"He's an idiot isn't he?"_

That makes Murdock laugh in spite of his tears. _"Yeah he is."_

 _"Ok, here I go."_ Cassie struggles to sit up, but she manages it. She starts taking off her shoes. She does a bit of rummaging and brings out some metal sticks. They are Face's thieving tools. She bends down in front of the lock and starts manipulating the mechanism inside. It's really difficult to do when you're on the other side of the lock but she manages it.

With an audible click the door swings open. _"Great work kid!"_ whispers Hannibal quietly.

Cassie manages to open their door a lot faster and then she's inside with them. She first kneels next to Face, he's sure to be faster than her. The manacles give her some problems, but after some breathless minutes they click open as well.

 _"Thanks kid!"_ Face says as he kisses her forehead. _"You did great, take a moment to catch your breath."_

She smiles gratefully as she sits down and takes a breather. Face manages to free the team in no time. Murdock supports Cassie. Everyone looks at Hannibal.

 _"Come on guys."_ he says.


	13. Chapter 13

Hannibal is waiting patiently in the playground. It's a lovely summer's day and kids are shouting and enjoying themselves in the playground. Some daredevils climb way to high for their mums to be comfortable. Some of them are just playing hide and seek or tag or a mixture of the two.

Hannibal stands up smiling when he sees the woman arrive with her two children. They all spot him and the two little ones sprint towards him.

 _"Grandpa!"_ they scream loudly and Hannibal smiles to himself. He'd never think he was grandpa-material but here we are. He catches the two rascals as they jump in his arms and hugs them tightly.

Their mother approaches a little slower, smiling for the entire time.

 _"You guys go on and play now."_ Cassie instructs them. _"I'll be here with grandpa."_

She smiles at Hannibal when she says that and they sit down together. Hannibal looks at the two siblings playing together and smiles contently.

 _"How are you feeling love?"_ he asks Cassie.

She shrugs tiredly. _"I'm hanging on John."_

He observes the bags under her eyes, sees she's still not quite recovered from the beatings from those bad guys.

 _"How's Murdock?"_ he asks.

Cassie sighs. _"Worse than before the mission, but the doctors say he'll be all right in a while. The kids miss their father."_ she concludes, looking down sadly. _"I miss him."_

Hannibal drapes his arm around her and gives her all the support he can right now. _"He'll pull through it kid. He always does. And this time he even has a reason."_

Cassie looks up at him. Hannibal smiles at her. _"Abi, Stu and you off course. I don't think there's anything that can keep him away from his family for long."_

Cassie looks reassured by this, but Hannibal isn't finished yet. _"When they brought you in unconscious, I though he'd snap for sure. He was hanging on by a thread as it was. But the boys and I agree, we think you were the reason he didn't snap."_ he explains. _"You didn't see him there kid. It was like you gave him a reason to keep hanging on."_

Cassie smiles at Hannibal. Together they watch her children play on this lovely summer day.

 **The End**


End file.
